Old Bridge of Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina

The Old Bridge of Mostar is an outstanding symbol of the multicultural faces of the Old City of Mostar, in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The bridge across the Neretva River, in the Old Town of Mostar, features pre-Ottoman, eastern Ottoman, Mediterranean and western European architectural elements. Known today as Stari Most, meaning "Old Bridge," it was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1557 to replace an earlier wooden bridge that was already unstable.

The designer was Mimar Hayruddin, a student of a great Ottoman architect. It took nine years to build. The bridge is 30 meters long, 4 meters wide, and 24 meters above the river at its highest point. On either ends are fortified towers - the Helebija Tower on the northeast and the Tara Tower on the southwest. These towers are called "bridge keepers", or mostari, and it was from them that Mostar got its name.

On 9 November, 1993, the Old Bridge was destroyed by the army of the Croatian Defence Council, during the height of the Bosnian conflict. (Slobodan Praljak, the commander to the Croatian forces, is now on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for destroying the bridge.)
When peace was restored, an international scientific committee established by UNESCO undertook to restore and rebuilt the structures in the Old Town of Mostar, including the Old Bridge, which was reopened on 23 July, 2004. During the 29th session of the World Heritage Committee meeting in Durban, South Africa, on 10-17 July, 2005, the Old City of Mostar was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Although it is rebuilt, the Old Bridge is still regarded as an exceptional and universal symbol of the coexistence of communities from diverse cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds.

World Heritage Site Inscription Details

Location Map

Visiting Mostar

Your base for visiting this World Heritage Site is Sarajevo. From there, you can make your arrangement to go to Mostar, or get a travel agency to make the arrangements for you. Here's a list of the hotels in Sarajevo here. Check out also the hotels in Mostar with online reservations.

Getting there

There are many buses going to Mostar from Sarajevo. You can also reach it travelling from Ploce and Dubrovnik in Croatia.